The Adventures of Sonic and the Freedom fighters, season one
by Foxfire251
Summary: Join Sonic, Tails, Sally and the rest as they fight the Evil forces of Dr. Robotnik and save Mobius! This is sort of my own take on the universe, so expect it to be slightly different than how it originally went down.
1. Chapter 1: The Veteran

**The Adventures of Sonic and The Freedom Fighters**

**A fanfic by Foxfire251**

**This fanfic has been given a T rating for some swearing, crude humor, mild lemons, blood, use of firearms, references to war, monster gore, and references to 'inappropriate touching' (Those who watch Venture Bros. know what that phrase means.)**

**I do not own the Sonic series, nor any of the characters in it, such as Sonic, Tails, Sally, Etc. I do own, however, my OCs, Commander Clash, Riley Ocelot, Sherrock and Gren Matoba, Scales Draconus, and many others that you will see as this progresses.**

**Please support the official release**

**Chapter one: The Veteran**

_The following takes place two weeks after Sonic and the Freedom Fighters rescued Bunnie from her near-roboticization…_

_Knothole Village_

_Mobius_

_May 21__st__, 3337_

/

"Y'know, I'll be honest," Said Sonic, gulping down a mouthful of food, "All my life I hated having to eat vegetables, but jeez…" Sonic picked up another homemade lettuce wrap made by their new friend Bunnie Rabbot, whom they had saved from being roboticized about two weeks previously, "The lettuce wraps are freaking _delicious_!" The half-roboticized rabbit cowgirl giggled. "Glad ya like 'em, sugah hog!" "Yeah, Bunnie," Sally added, "Who taught you how to make these? They're really good!" Bunnie sighed nostalgically. "Mah Ma did." She answered, "Me and her used to make them all the time after Pa and mah brother Kheil went missin'. She taught me many recipes before she died." She then looked down, sighing again. "'Ah really do miss her…" "Why'd she die?" Tails asked, still eight years old and not quite in the know about certain about certain things in life and therefore still retaining his cute innocence. Sally then gave Tails a look. "Tails!" She scolded, "That's not something you-" "It's okay, Sal…" Said Bunnie, slight sadness in her voice, "He asked, he has a right to know…" Bunnie then sat beside the young two-tailed fox at at the picnic bench in the middle of the village they were all sitting at. "Y'see…" She began to explain, trying her best to do so in a way he'd be able to easily understand, "She died 'cause she got very sick one day, and it wasn't the kind of sick where you take a spoonful of medicine and get better from it days later, no, this the kind of sick where-" "What, was it cancer or somethi-**AHHHH**!" Sally stepped on Sonic's foot after he had rudely interrupted Bunnie, trying to get him to be quiet, mouthing the word 'not in front of Tails!' "What's cancer?" Tails then asked, curious about the word that Sonic had used. Before Bunnie could get a chance to explained, they were approached by two of their friends. One was their friend Antoine, and another was their first newest member before they had Bunnie.

He was a mobian ocelot boy, about 16 years old, making him the third oldest, the first being Rotor, and the second being Bunnie, and he had bright yellow fur with black spots covering his body, amber colored eyes, short black hair, and wore a grey t-shirt with a picture of a chao dressed in a ninja outfit, tan cargo shorts, a pair of yellow and a pair of yellow and grey sneakers.

Following behind him was a very out of breath-looking Rotor, who had stopped a few feet behind them, panting. "What's gotten into you guys?" Sonic asked, "I thought you were all going for a walk in the woods?" "Dude..." Said the ocelot boy, "You guys have no idea what we saw out there!" "What'd you see, Riley?" Tails asked. "Okay," Riley began, "So, me, 'Twan, and Rotor here went out into the woods about thirty and a half minutes ago…"

_/_

_Thirty and a half minutes ago…_

_/_

"_So, why exactly are we out here in ze woods again?" Antoine asked, brushing away a mosquito that tried to bite him. "'Twan," Said Riley, who was carrying a bundle of roman candles he had brought with him, "I told you, we're going to go find that wasp's nest I found yesterday and shoot fireballs at it with these roman candles I bought in town that one time." Rotor looked at him like he had just spat up an egg like some kind of reptilian alien person. "Riley, that's an incredibly foolish and downright reckless idea!" He exclaimed, "What would even possess you to come up with an idea like that?!" Riley shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno." He answered, "Seemed like a good idea at the time." Rotor sighed irritably, "Riley, are you mentally challenged or something?" He asked. Riley shook his head. "I don't think so…" He answered, "But often times, I get the feeling that Tails is autistic." Rotor looked at him like he had just yelled out a a curse word. "__**WHAT**__?!" He exclaimed, "Why woul-What?" "Well, Riley explained, "Back when I used to live at the orphanage, there were a couple of kids there with autism, and noticed similar traits that Tails-" He was cut off by a loud, pain-filled scream. Riley jumped about a foot in the air, while Antoine jumped right into Rotor's arms like in Scooby Doo! "The hell was that?!" Rotor exclaimed, who then let Antoine fall onto the ground. They then heard painful moans coming from nearby. They traced the sound of the noise, keeping low to keep from being spotted, and soon found a rather grisly sight._

_There, in a small clearing, was an overlander eggtrooper with his left leg caught in a bear trap. The eggtrooper was then approached by a human. _

_The Human was male, about 32 in age, and had light skin, brown eyes, medium-length walnut brown hair, several scars on his face including one going down his left eye, one going across the bridge of his nose, and two that formed an X on his right cheek, and wore an olive drab military jacket overtop a grey tanktop, Vietnam-era tiger stripe camoflage pants, kneepads, combat boots, black fingerless gloves with brass studs on the knuckles of them and a navy blue long bandana worn around his head that closely resembled the one that Solid Snake usually wears. He also had a Mossberg 590 military shotgun with a pistol-grip pump and had the word 'Stakeout' painted on the side of it slung on his back. The human kicked away the eggtrooper's rifle, then knelt down beside him, pulling out a Colt M1911 and pointing it in the man's face. "That convoy you just came from…" The human said, "I want to know where it's headed." The eggtrooper, shook his head. "Wh-what?!" He asked. The human pistol-whipped him across the face. "Don't screw with me, pal!" The human yelled, "I know you came from a small Eggman Imperial convoy, I watched you separate from them a moment ago, you and your little 'buddies' whom I took the liberty of 'taking care of' earlier." The eggtrooper looked at the human with horror in his eyes, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. The human then pressed the barrel of his 45. pistol against the soldier's forehead. "You don't think I'll do it, do you?" The human asked, "I killed seven of you people today, and I killed seventy-__five__ more of you over the years prior to them. So if you think for a minute that I'll think twice before splattering your brains all over the forest floor for the wild animals of the night to feast upon, then you got another thing coming." "He doesn't mean us, does he?" Riley whispered to Rotor. Rotor looked to him for a moment, then whispered back, "What? Shut up!" "They're headed towards the northeast," The soldier finally answered, "I was given orders to scout out for the Freedom Fighters and bring them to my CO if I or my squad found them." "Where in the northeast?" The human pressed on, pressing the handgun's barrel even harder against the man's forehead. "F-forest g-glen temple or something…" The man stuttered. "Why?" The human asked. The soldier gulped, then whimpered, "Oh, god…" The human pulled the hammer of his 45. Semi-automatic, then yelled "__**ANSWER THE GODDAMN QUESTION**__!" "I don't know!" The soldier exclaimed, "Something about some kind of emerald! I'm just a grunt! They don't actually tell me anything, I just follow orders! I swear to god!" "Don't swear to god!" The human bellowed at him, "I talk to god all the time and __god __happens to be the one that told me to capture and torture your ass, you cheating, killing motherfu-(_"Riley!" Yelled Sally, interrupting him as he qouted the human word for word, "Don't use that kind of language in front of Tails!")_" The imperial solider then proceeded to wetting his pants in fear. The human then let the man free from the bear trap, putting away his pistol. He then pulled out the military shotgun from off his back. "five seconds." He said. The soldier tilted his head in confusion. "Wh-what do you-" "You get a five second head start." The human explained, "Starting now." The human pulled on the pistol grip pump of the shotgun. Seeing this, the soldier then attempted to flee, hindered only by his gimped leg. After about three and a half seconds (Rotor had timed it to the exact second, being the mathmetician that he was sometimes), the human the unloaded a shell into the soldier's back, ripping it open in a spray of buckshot. The three friends watched in horror as the soldier fell to the ground face-first, a huge bleeding hole in his back, and as the human walked right up next to the soldier, discharging the empty shell, then pulling out his pistol and plugging him in the head to finish the job. Once the human had left, the three friends booked it, running straight for Knothole village…_

"… It was so freaking scary, man!" Riley finished, "It was like something out of First Blood part one!" "You said the Eggtrooper mentioned something about an 'emerald'," Said Sally. Riley nodded. Sally thought for a moment, then gasped. "He wouldn't happen to have been talking about the Chaos emeralds, would he have?" she exclaimed. "What, you want me to go ask him or something?" Riley asked sarcastically, "'Cause I can't talk to dead people like that kid in The Sixth Sense!" "Well, just in case, I say we go help this guy." Said Sally, "'Cause if Robotnik got his hands on the Chaos Emeralds, it would be _incredibly_ bad for all of us!" "Uhh, Sugarcube?" Bunnie asked, "What if this guy's some kinda nutjob, or a rogue Eggtrooper or something." "Well, the nutjob part I can understand," Rotor responded, "But I don't think he was ever with the empire. His jacket had markings from G.U.N., the Marines, I think. Plus, I doubt that tiger stripe camoflage is standard issue for the Eggman Imperial Legion." "You sayin' he's one of the good guys?" Asked Bunnie. "Possibly…" Rotor answered, "Well, in our case, hopefully." "Well, whether this guys a good guy or a whackjob," Said Sonic, standing up on the picnic table, "I say we get there first and keep the chaos emerald out of Robuttnik's hands!" "Yeah!" Tails exclaimed, joining him. He then tripped and fell off the table, landing on his butt. Tails then started sobbing in pain, rubbing his sore backside. "right…" Said Sonic, glancing at his friend for a moment, then continuing, "Let's do it to it!"

The human walked back to his hut on the outskirts of Knothole Village, closing the door behind him as he entered. He walked up to his dining table, which had a map of the entire area surrounding Knothole village, then placed the shotgun he used earlier on the gun rack on the wall behind him. He scanned the map until he found where the 'Forest Glen Temple' was, then marked it with a red marker. He then took a moment to memorize the path from his current location to his destination. After he finished doing that, he went over to a gun locker and got out an XM16E1 Colt Commando with an attached glass ACOG scope and an underbarrel grenade launcher, an Ingram MAC-10, and a Barrett M107 50 cal. BMG sniper rifle with an attached Variable zoom scope and a silencer. Once he had fully armed himself, he then walked into the added on garage of his hut and got on a dirtbike he owned, then revved up the engine. He then pressed a button on a remote attached to a keychain on his keys, making the garage door open. Finally, he then sped off towards his destination, making sure not to let the people of the village he happened to live nearby know of his presence.

/

_Forest Glen Temple_

_40 miles northeast of Knothole Village…_

/

"What do you mean they haven't come back?" A young overlander general questioned a loley eggtrooper grunt. He was about twenty-four in age, had longish blonde hair that came down to his neck and was parted in the middle, blue eyes, the left of which was hidden underneath an eye patch because of an injury that had been inflicted on it in a previous battle, light skin, and wore an Eggman imperial officer's uniform underneath a black leather trenchcoat with an armband on the left sleeve that bore the Imperial emblem, black knee-high jackboots, and had a makarov pistol in a holster on his belt.

"Sir, with all due respect," The grunt continued, "I don't know how else to tell you; our scouting party hasn't come back!" "No doubt the Freedom Fighters had some hand in this." "General Sherrock!" Two eggtroopers approached from further in the ruins. "We found it!" Sherrock turned to face the two soldiers. "Did you, now?" He asked. They both nodded. "take a look, sir." Said one of them, pulling out a bright green, baseball-sized gem. Sherrock took it in his hand, eyeing it over. "Yes…" He said with delight, "Robotnik will be most pleased. With this in hand, I should be able to salvage over three years of past failures."

Sally looked at the scene through a pair of binoculars. "We _have_ to get that emerald away from Sherrock." She said, lowering the binoculars. "Yeah," Sonic said in agreement, "We can't let General Blondie get away with that thing." "Y'all got some kinda plan, hon?" Bunnie asked. Sally nodded. "Yes. Here's the plan…"

The human stopped his dirtbike a few feet away from his destination, going by foot for the rest of the way. He got into the prone position on top of a steep hill overlooking the clearing, then readied the silenced 50 Caliber sniper rifle. He looked around with the scope, getting a good lay of the land. "Four charlies, right…" He muttered, "Five charlies, right. Seven north. Twelve SwatBots, a machine gunner set up five clicks northeast, armed with a Russian RPK light machine gun with a 40 round mag…" he then aimed the rifle at the machine gunner, wanting to take him out first so he's not a threat later…

"Good…" Said Sherrock, looking to his troops, "We should be right on schedule, just so long as that annoying hedgehog and his friends don't-" "Hey, General Blondie! Over here! Come and get me!" Sherrock then jerked his head in the direction of a familiar speedy blue hedgehog. He growled. "Oh, brilliant." He said, "I was literally _just_ talking about you! I guess it's true what they say: 'Speak of the devil, and he shall appear'" He then turned to his Swatbot minions. "Swatbots!" He ordered, "Kill that hedgehog!" the robotic minions all then aimed their blasters in Sonic's direction, their laser sights all converging on Sonic's body. Luckily, before they could open fire, Tails swooped in over them with a Super Soaker water fun he had modified and sprayed a blast of water upon all of them, causing them to short-circuit. Tails then flew over to Sonic, high-fiving him. "Way to go little bro!" Said Sonic. "They're done like dinner!" Tails chirped. Meanwhile, Bunny, Antoine and Riley were all engaging some Eggtroopers, Riley armed with an aluminum baseball bat, Antoine with his sword, and Bunnie with her fists. "Enguard!" Antoine yelled at an eggtrooper, pointing his sword at him in a fighting stance. The soldier simply gave him an unimpressed look and aimed his G36E assault rifle at him. Antoine then gulped, fearing for his own life. "Ummm…" he said, slight cowardice in his voice, "Guns are for… Cowards?" Just then, Riley smacked the soldier in the back with his bat, causing him to cry out in pain and fall to the ground, dropping his gun. "Jeez, 'Twan." Said Riley, "I'll be honest, you're kinda holding me back." Antoine then looked towards the ground in shame. "Don't worry about it, though," Said Riley reassuringly, "You'll get the hang of this whole, fighting thing!"

Sherrock growled, watching as his plan started to fall to pieces. "My swabots… Being crippled by a _child's toy_!" He bellowed, "And my men being beat up by a bunch of kids. As if my life couldn't get anymore-" He was then suplexed to the ground by Sally, who was wielding a titanium Bo staff. Sally then snatched the Chaos emerald out of his hand. "I'll be taking this." She said with a triumphant smile. Sherrock looked to her and smirked. "You probably think you're so clever, Princess…" He said. "Cleverer than you, perhaps!" Sally taunted, "Now, what does Robotnik want with the Chaos Emeralds?" "Wouldn't you like to know!" Sherrock responded, "But unfortunatly for you…" He snapped his fingers, and as if on cue, a bunch of badniks came out from some bushes nearby, all shaped like dragonflies with claw arms attached to them, and grabbed Sally, causing her to drop the emerald! One of them also managed to grab Tails, who squirmed and struggled to get free of the badnik's grasp, yelling "**SONIC**! **HELP ME**!" several more of them, shaped like four-legged scorpions with laser stingers, pointed their weapons at Riley, Bunnie and Antoine. Rotor was escorted to them by a hornet-shaped badnik, which had it's laser stinger pointed at it's back. Sherrock looked to him and asked, "Lemme guess? You were going to sabotage our vehicles so we can't chase after you like you always do?" "Y-yeah, kinda…" Rotor answered sheepishly. "Hmph. As I thought." Sherrock looked to our heroes, who were rounded up in front of him, facing away from the human who lay prone on the hill above. "You all have become _much_ too predictable. It's almost like we're trapped in a rut, forced to make the same mistakes, over and over again…"

"Shit!" the human cursed under his breath, watching as the kids were captured by the Badniks below. Adjusting his original plan, he aimed the rifle at on of the closest Badnik's heads, which was the one that was holding Sally, took a deep breath, then eased his finger on the trigger…

"… Which makes me think sometimes," Sherrock droned on, "Why, okay, why on god's green Mobius would _anyone_ put up with a bunch of brats pertending to be heroes when-" He was cut off when the badnik restraining Sally's head exploded as a 50 caliber round went through it. Sherrock's good eye went wide with shock. Sally then pulled off the claws that were still holding her, then looked around, trying to find the source of the silenced gunshot. Just then, the same thing happened to the Badnik holding Tails, soon followed by the other ones. Sherrock then pulled out his pistol, pulling on the slide to chamber a round, then walked over to Sally and pointed the gun at her head, yelling, "Who's firing at us? Another one of your little friends I should know about?" Sally shook her head. "I don't know! I swear!" She answered, raising her voice. Sherrock pulled the hammer. "Don't play with me, little girl!" He bellowed, "I will-" He stopped when heared the sound of gunfire coming from the direction of where the remainder of his Eggtroopers were. He turned to see the lone human, mowing down all of them with his assault rifle. Riley looked to the human in both fear and awe. "It's him…" He said, "The crazy soldier guy…" Sherrock fired all eight shots in the human's direction, but missed with every one. The human then ran right up to him and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. He pulled out his pistol and pointed it in the one-eyed general's face, and said, with the utmost hostility in his voice, "Listen to me very carefully. You're gonna let those kids go free, and you're gonna go back to your boss, and tell what happened here and who's responsible for it. And the name you will give him…" the human pulled on the hammer of the pistol. "… Is Commander Clash. And tell him I'm coming for his ass, and that I'm hungry for vengeance!" Sherrock nodded, then ran off to the cruiser he came here in and sped off in it. Clash watched him do this, then put away his pistol. After Sally picked up the emerald again, Clash then started to walk away. "Wait, hold on a second!" Sonic ran in front of him. "That was cool back there, pal! Y'know, when you-" "Go home." Clash interrupted. Sonic looked to him in confusion. "What?" "You heard me, kid." Clash repeated, "Go home. All of you. This isn't your war." "Excuse me?" Said Sonic, looking up at him angrily, "We've fighting Robuttnik for-" "Kid, I've been fighting him since you were a hedgehoglett!" Clash yelled at him, "Seriously, you kids shouldn't be doing this! I mean, how old's the two-tailed one? Four? Six?" "Eight…" Tails corrected, "I'm eight years old. But I'm very smart for my age!" Clash walked up to him, eyeing him at Tails' level as he hovered in front of him. Clash turned as if to walk away, then suddenly pulled out his pistol, pointed it at Tails' face and yelled "**BANG**!" Tails screamed, then fell to the ground, cowering and wailing like a boy who had been smacked by his alcoholic stepfather. Clash then put away his pistol, then said, "Case in point. You kids are way too young for this." "Hey!" Yelled Sonic, "That wasn't cool! Apologize right-" "You ever killed anyone?" Clash asked him sharply, "Huh? You ever took someone's life so that you could prolong your own?" Sonic thought hard about this. Clash continued as he did so. "Have you ever stared death in the face, looking down the barrel of a gun, wondering if today was going to be your last?" "I have." Said Sally, stepping forward, "When Robotnik took over my kingdom years ago, I was running away from the battle with Sonic, when I tripped and came face to face with a swatbot's blaster. I thought I was done for, but then I was saved by a guard who stabbed it with his sword. Unfortunatly, even though me and Sonic got away… the guard wasn't so lucky. He was gunned down on the spot. That's why we're doing this. So that we don't have to see things like that happen again. Furthermore, Clash…" She then smiled slightly. "… Believe it or not, I've actually heard of you before." Clash raised an eyebrow. "You have?" He asked. Sally nodded. "You're Commander Clash, The fortune soldier of Freedom, and… The last living member of the original Freedom Fighters." Clash looked to her for a moment, then gave a slight smile, then said, "Sounds like someone did their homework. Tell ya what; How 'bout I join you kids? I could show you all how one of the Originals fought the empire! Whaddya say?" He extended his hand down for Sally to shake. She then did so and said, "Welcome to the team, Commander."

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2: Getting to know everyone

_Author's note: This chapter will introduce a certain character plot point related to Tails that originated from a fic written by a friend of mine, Ironwolf935, titled "Sonic Noir" Basically, the plot point is this: Tails is Autistic. Not hating on anyone with it, because believe me, I have aspergers myself, which is a more mild form of it, but it just sort of fascinated me, so I decided to use it, with his permission, of course. Who knows? Maybe it'll eventually catch on and become fanon! Anywho, on with the chapter!_

**The Adventures of Sonic and the Freedom Fighters**

**The ratings and disclaimers from the previous chapters also apply to this chapter and all subsequent chapters**

**Chapter two: Getting to know everyone**

_The following takes place a few hours after chapter one._

_Clash's hut,_

_Knothole Village_

_/_

"I had no idea you've been living in Knothole village this whole time, Clash!" Sally said as she and the others approached Clash's hut, the windows of which were boarded over, and had small, gun barrel-sized holes drilled in them. "How come we've never seen you anywhere in the village before?" Rotor asked. "'Cause I'm supposed to be MIA(1)." Clash answered, opening the door to his hut, "It's better to be that than AWOL(2)." When the group of youthes entered the hut, they were a little stunned.

Guns and firearms of many varieties decorated the interior of the hut; resting on racks fastened to the walls, in open gun lockers, or just left out in the open. Curious, Tails picked up a grenade launcher, inspecting it. "What is this?" He asked innocently. Spotting this, Clash immediately snatched the launcher out of the eight-year-old kitsune's hands and said, raising his voice slightly, "That, is a China Lake pump-action grenade launcher, and also, _not a toy_!" Clash then pulled on the pump twice, checking to see if it was loaded, which thankfully, it wasn't. "And you're lucky it wasn't loaded!" Clash continued to scold him, "Otherwise you could've blown off one of your friend's faces!" Tails looked up at him as if he had done something bad, his ears flattening against his head. Just then, Riley picked up a MAC-11 machine pistol, eyeing it like a curious cat. "Are all of these real?" He asked. He soon got his answer when his pointer finger accidentally slid over the trigger, casuing him to accidentally fire it off towards the ceiling. After he had emptied the entire mag, Clash snatched it out of his hand and yelled, "**ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING**?! Okay, number one rule of my hut; Look, but do not touch! Got that?" Riley nodded, fearful of invoking the wrath of a vengeful war vet. Tails then noticed a framed photograph resting on the dresser next to the bed. One that caught his eye the minute he saw it…

In it, was a younger, 24-year-old Commander Clash standing next to an older, 36-year-old mobian fox. He was male, and had black hair that was parted in the middle, had an eye patch over his left eye, and wore jungle camoflage fatigues, and had an M14 with an attached scope slung over his shoulder. The two of them also appeared to look like they were friends.

Tails couldn't help but wonder why he felt like he knew the fox in the photo.

"Excuse me?" Said Tails to Clash, pointing at the photo, "Who's that man in that photo with you?" Clash looked to the photo, then smiled nostalgically. "That's your father, kid." He answered, picking up the photo and showing it off. Tails' eyes went wide with amazement. "My father?" Clash nodded. "This is us back when we were in Vietnam together. That portion of the war was a major turning point for us. The mobians showed that they could stand up to the West Overlands on their own, without the help of the humans of the United Nothern Territories. It was after we had gotten back from Vietnam that your mother became pregnant with you. Your father was overjoyed when he had heard the news. Because we were good friends, I was one of the first to know. Although…" Clash's expression suddenly turned solemn, "He would never get to witness you being born. He got captured while we were on a mission gone horribly awry. Shortly after you were born, your mother ran after him, not wanting to believe that he was gone. And then there was your…" Clash then stopped himself from letting a very dark cat out of the bag. Tails tilted his head in confusion. "My what?" He asked. Before Clash could come up with a cover-up lie, Bunnie ran into the hut, yelling "Sooouuuup's on, everyone!"

And just like that, everyone's focus was brought away from a topic that was incredibly taboo…

Well, taboo around Tails, that is…

/

_Robotnik Base_

_Robotropolis_

_That very same moment…_

/

"You failed? **YOU FAILED**?" Sherrock cowered in fear before his boss, the bloated madman himself, Dr. Robotnik. "To be completely fair, sir," Sherrock explained, "My failure this time wasn't _entirely_ brought upon by the Freedom Fighters and the Hedgehog." "Oh? And just who, praytell, plays equal fault in this?" Robotnik asked him, glaring daggers at him. "It was a human soldier," Sherrock explained, "Called himself 'Commander Clash' and told me to tell you that he's apparently coming for you." Robotnik then put his fingers to his chin, as if he had remembered something. His eyes then went wide with shock underneath his goggles. "Of course! So it's him, huh? The last remnant of the Original Freedom Fighters. I honestly thought I had him killed years ago." "That's bad right?" Sherrock asked. "What it means, General," Robotnik continued, "Is that if he was to join up with the Princess and her detestable friends, including that wretched hedgehog, they would have knowledge of some of the weaknesses of my empire that he and Col. Stripes had found years ago." He thought for a moment, then continued, "Precautions will most likely have to be taken for the next time you engage them." "Sooooo…" Said Sherrock, "Does this mean I'm off the hook?" "For now." Robotnik answered sternly, "But know that this failure of yours will not go unforgotten. Your next failure will be your last. And you know what that will mean, right?" Sherrock gulped, as he knew the answer all to well. "Y-yes sir!" He said. "You're dissmissed, General." Said Robotnik. And with that, Sherrock walked out of the room, giving a sigh of relief as he closed the door. Waiting for him in the hall outside was a young overlander man, about two years younger than he, same color and style of hair, same skin tone, and wore a brown bomber jacket with the Eggman imperial emblem on the back of it, a pair of black jeans, black tactical boots, a holster on his right thigh that held an H&K USP pistol with an attached silencer and laser sight, and a pair of aviator sunglasses that he wore over his eyes, hiding them from view. "So, tell me." The younger mand said, "Did he chew you out?" Sherrock glared at him and answered, "No, Gren, he simply wanted to invite to his birthday this ye-Of course he chewed me out! I'm one more failure short of being roboticized!" "Should've thought about that before you started leading missions by yourself." Gren replied, putting a french cigarette in his mouth and lighting it. "Oh, and like _you_ could do any better?" Sherrock asked sarcastically. "I'm just saying that _supposedly_ I could sneak into their base of operations, and then, in theory, slit their little throats while they slept in their little cradles or whatever these kids are sleeping in; seriously, the youngest of them probably hasn't even _begun_ to hit puberty!" Sherrock sighed. "Yes, you could…" He said, "But you know how the boss likes doing things." "Oh, that's right, I forgot." Gren responded with great sarcasm, "The old 'cat and mouse' routine. Honestly, I don't know _why_ he would insist on doing things this way, I mean, it's bad enough we had that whole 'Bouncing raccoon cannon' fiasco-" "**SHUT THE HELL UP**!" Sherrock suddenly bellowed at him, "We swore to God above to never talk about that… that… Ssssstupid-ass machine, ever again!"

"But I-"

"**EVEEEEERRRRR**!"

/

_Knothole Village_

_Sometime later that evening…_

/

"… And this is our recreation hut," Sally told Clash, leading him on a tour of the small woodland village, "This is where we spend our downtime whenever we get it. It may not look like much, 'cause it really isn't, but we have a TV with a DVD player and a Super Nintega Genesis with a ton of games to go with it, a multitude of dvds, that include movies, shows, cartoons, and of course some of the Animes that Riley and Rotor seem to like a lot. And over there…" She pointed to a beat-up looking air hockey table, "Is our air hockey table, but it hasn't really been working all that well recently. Rotor says he's gonna try and fix it when he gets time." She then walked over to a bookshelf made of ciderblocks and plywood. "And here's our little 'library' so to speak. We got, novels, reference books, old texts that I managed to reclaim from the kingdom library, a bunch of Riley's comics that he couldn't fit on the shelves in his hut, some old fairy tale collections, and-" "No effing way…" Clash picked up a certain novel off of the shelf in front of him. "'The giver'… That's a classic! It also happens to be one of my favorite novels of all time!" Sally's ears perked up when she heard him say this. "It is?" She asked, her eyes lighting up with sudden interest "You read it too?!" she asked excitedly. Clash glanced at her and nodded with a nostalgic smile. "I first read it back when I was your age." "Oh, it's one of _my_ favorites, too! Have you read 'Lord of the flies'? 'cause we have that too!" "Really, now?" Clash responded, putting the book back, "Did you notice the symbolism that author put in when he wrote it?" "'Society without order is nothing but chaos.'" Said Sally, as if she was reciting something. Clash chuckled. "You kids are alright." He said. The two then left the hut and went to another that was a few feet away from the recreation hut. There was a sign on the door that read, in rather deplorable handwriting:

"Taylzez Werkshop"

Clash looked at the sign, not entirely able to read it because of the handwriting of the one who had made it. Sally then opened the door to the hut, saying, "This is a little 'workshop' we set up for Tails so he could make his little 'inventions'" Going inside, Clash noticed that there was a multitude of various homemade gadgets and gizmos that lay on various shelves, some finished, others still looking like the needed work, and others looking like they hadn't even been touched. "Tails made all these?" Clash asked, rather impressed. Sally nodded. "He's really bright for his age." She answered, "We don't know where he gets it, but his smarts have saved our necks many times." Clash picked up the Super Soaker that he saw Tails use earlier that day. "That's his 'Splashy gun'" Said Sally, "He made it by using an old water gun as a base, then adding a pnuematic firing mechanism, allowing it to spray a more harder, concentrated blast of water." "Reminds me of that chinese kid off the Goonies…" Clash muttered rather loudly. "What's that?" Sally asked, hearing what he compared Tails to. "Huh?" Clash looked at her for a moment, then said, putting down the device, "Oh that's right, you're too young to remember that." "ANYways," Said Sally, "Theres a lot of stuff in here that we use a lot, including-" "What're these?" Clash asked, pointing to some crayon drawings that were hung up on a wall by tape. Sally looked to them and responded, "Oh, those are just drawings he's done over the years. Mostly in his free time. Like I said, he's very gifted, and he's come a long way since we found out about his slight 'condition.'" Clash looked to her, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "'Condition'?" He repeated. Sally sat down on a chair in front of the workbench, sighing as she answered. "Tails has autism. But he has it on the more broader end of the spectrum, so he's-" "More managable?" Clash interrupted. "Well, he _can_ be a handful sometimes…" Sally continued, "But we try not to treat him differently because of it. You see, I found a book in the kingdom library a while back that told exactly how to do with a child like Tails, and it said to give them lots of love and nurturing, but not _too_ much, otherwise it can cause him to have a more negative outlook on himself in later life and…" Clash, still listening, started to light a cigarette in his mouth, and after a short puff, Sally coughed a little from breathing in the fumes, cutting off her long-winded explantion of child care. "Clash? Do you mind not doing that here?" She asked, "Or, at the very least, not around Tails?" "Hey, I haven't had one almost all day." Said Clash, "Call it a 'victory smoke' because of our victory back there." "You know those are bad for you and anyone around you who breathes in the smoke, right?" Sally asked. Not wanting to start an argument with the one who was allowing him to stay, Clash put out the cigarette on his pant leg. "Alright, fine." He said, "I'll do it later. But anyways, you were saying about Tails?" "Well…" Sally continued, "Like I was saying, he has a natural gift that not many kids his age have, and that is his vast intellect. The only one of us that sometimes even _knows_ most of the technical and scientific stuff he mentions is Rotor, and sometimes, even _he_ gets stumped!" After a brief pause, Sally then yawned. "Well, I think it's about time we all hit the hay." She said, "This whole day's left me beat." "Well, g'night, Sal." Said Clash. "Good night, Clash." Sally then walked off towards her hut. Clash did the same, thinking about everything he had learned about these kids.

He also thought about what he had to teach…

/

_Vietnam_

_8 years and nine months earlier…_

_/_

"_Don't you touch me!" Clash bellowed at the Overlandic Vietcong soldier escorting him at gunpoint to a wooden table set up in one of the more innermost chambers of the prison compound he and his comrade were in. he sat down in a chair that lay across from his comrade, a mobian fox with an eye patch over his left eye. "Bastards…" Said Clash, "We're gonna make 'em pay."_

"_You! No talk! PLAY!" yelled a Vietcong standing next to the table, holding a snub-nosed revolver in his hand. He spun the chambers of it, then slammed it on the table, spinning it once until it pointed to Clash._

"_What's the plan, Ames." Clash asked the fox._

"_I'm thinkin, I'm thinkin." The fox answered through gritted teeth._

"_No talk!"_

"_One chance, Prower."_

"_We'll take it…"_

"_Okay."_

_The Vietcong smacked Clash on the side of his freshly-cut up face, then yelled "BAN BAN BAN(3)!"_

_Clash glared right into the man's eyes, then roared, "__**YOU CAN'T KILL ME**__!"_

_The soldier pointed to him, then said, "You shoot, saip! you shoot!"_

_Clash took in a deep breath, grabbed the pistol, gritted his teeth, the pointed it at his right temple, then yelled, "__**FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU**__-"_

_/_

_Present Day…_

_/_

Clash jolted awake, panting and covered in sweat. He also was pointing a Silver bodied Colt Anaconda magnum revolver towards the wall in front of him. He sat up in his bed for a moment, telling himself mentally that he wasn't in Vietnam anymore, nor was he in Robotropolis for that matter.

He was home…

Or, as close as it got, anyway…

"Shit…" He said out loud, resting the top of the barrel against his forehead.

It wasn't until he saw Tails in his peripherals that he realized what he had said in front of him.

"I-I mean, 'Shoot.'" He stammered, correcting himself. Tails just looked at him innocently. Clash winced. "Promise me won't use that word ever, will you?" Clash asked him. Tails nodded. "Were you having a nightmare?" He asked. Clash placed the revolver down on the bedside drawer, then pressed his fingers to his forehead, then answered, "Of a sorts, yeah. It's actually what us adults call a 'war flashback'" "What's that?" Tails asked. "It's…" Clash hesitated, wondering whether or not to fully explain the psychological damage war can bring to an eight year old. He sighed, then said, "In short, war is… Heck… How'd you even get in here, anyway? Shouldn't you be asleep right now?" Tails then pulled himself up next to Clash on the bed, then explained. "Well, first, you left the door open, which I never would've expected someone as cautious as you to do. And to answer the second question, I couldn't sleep." Clash looked to the alarm clock next to his bed. "Why?" He asked, "It's three in the morning." "Well…" Tails continued to explain, fidgeting with his namesake as he did so, "Sometimes, I just lay awake and wonder what they were like. My parents, that is. I never once knew who they were, but apparently you seem to know them personally, so guess maybe someday you could tell me more about them." Clash sighed. "I suppose. But, then why are you in _my_ hut?" "Sometimes, when I can't sleep, or I wake up from a bad dream," Tails continued, "I just get out of me and Aunt Sally's hut and I just wander. I try to stay as close to her hut as possible, though." "I still think you should be in bed." Said Clash. He then got off his bed and stood up, stretching a little bit, then extending his hand down to Tails' level and asking, "Mind if I walk you back?" Taking a hint, Tails twirled his two tails together, making them spin like a helicopter rotor blade and making him hover next to him. "Oh yeah, I forgot you could do that." The two then walked under the pale moonlight back to Sally's hut. Once there, Clash and Tails entered, being as quiet as they could as Clash took Tails to his little room next to the main one. Tails then crawled into his bed, slipping the covers over his body. "Can you tell me a story?" He asked. Clash groaned. "What one?" He asked. "Do you know the one about how Mobius was created?" Clash nodded. "Could you tell me that one?" Clash looked at him, then gave a slight smile, then answered. "Sure." He cleared his throat, then began…

"_Long ago, before the days of men and mobians, there was a world called earth. Unlike Mobius, earth was inhabited entirely by humans. One day, in a country known as 'America' everything changed after a Genetic science corporation known as 'Mobius industries' started genetic experiments on animals in an effort to develop a drug that could cure HIV. What happened instead, was the animals started to develop more…._

_They started to evolve._

_They soon became more human-like in both appearance and intelligence. The scientists found that apparently the drug had worked differently than they thought it would. The evolved animals, or 'Mobians' as they were later dubbed were released into prefabricated environments, or 'villages' and studied with a close eye._

_However, the aformentioned drug became noticed by the US Government, so, attempting to get a government contract, they ran a clinical test on a human, but with varied results. The human subject died after evolving too rapidly for his body to keep up with. However, at that very time, a nation called China wanted the serum for themselves, thinking they could do better._

_Unfortunatly, this greed led to a all-out third world war that ended with several cities being annihilated by nuclear missles._

_Years passed. Eventually, the people of the planet once called earth re-built, and over time, the mobians finally-"_

"Hold on," Tails said suddenly, interrupting Clash, "What about the dragon?" Clash looked at him funny. "… Come again?"

"You're not telling the story right," Said Tails, "Mobius was created when a giant dragon spat up a giant ball of fire that became the planet, and from the ashes came the planets inhabitants, Mobians, humans, echidnas, all all the others."

Clash looked at him for a moment, astounded by the aspects of the version of the creation of Mobius that the mobians had created.

"… Seriously?"

_To be continued…_

_(1)Missing In Action_

(2)Absent Without Leave

(3)Vietnamese for 'Shoot, shoot, shoot'


End file.
